Cloud services operated by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the Gulf region continue to face disruptions more than a week after drone strikes damaged data centre infrastructure, raising concerns about the reliability of critical digital systems in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment.

Lale Akoner, Global Market Analyst, says while the escalation has introduced new risks, the broader investment case for equities in 2026 remains intact—though the path forward has become more dependent on macroeconomic factors.

S4 Capital founder Martin Sorrell tells TRENDS digital dominance, AI disruption and consolidation are reshaping global advertising, urging agile, tech-first players to implement change decisively.

In an interview with TRENDS, Josh Lerner says Gulf economies pursuing diversification must recognize that transformation takes time, patience, and resilience through inevitable ups and downs.

The GCC has quickly moved from passive capital allocation into active ecosystem building, spurred on by heavy sovereign capital and large infrastructure bets, setting the region apart from Europe and US markets. 

Amazon Ads is evolving from a marketing channel into a business-building engine, helping GCC startups use full-funnel advertising, retail media intelligence, and AI to scale globally, says Rayan Karaky in an interview with TRENDS.

Florin Vasvari of London Business School says a knowledge economy requires educated local talent, global expertise and supportive regulation, tax incentives and access to capital, in an interview to TRENDS.

As AI reshapes boardrooms worldwide, Cozmo AI CTO Nuha Hashem explains how responsible, accountable systems—powered by MENA talent—can drive sustainable global growth.

The post-oil Gulf has the chance to redefine authenticity itself—as a deliberately trained, global hospitality culture built by people, not pipelines.

Gerd Leonhard, CEO of the Futures Agency and author of Technology vs. Humanity, tells TRENDS that humanity is hurtling toward a clash between man and machine.

The Gulf economies face disruptions but embrace risk to grow, says Tadeu Baldani Caravieri, founder of Prototypes for Humanity, on regional innovation trends.

This year’s edition is expected to welcome more than 30,000 participants from over 120 countries, including 1,500 startups, 700 investors and 600 media representatives—making it the largest Web Summit to date.

The announcement comes a few days after Yemeni forces supported by Saudi Arabia recaptured large swathes of territory from the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatists.

A Russian warship arrived off South Africa's main naval base Friday to join Chinese and Iranian vessels for military exercises that risk further damaging Pretoria's relations with Washington.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog on Thursday met with former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, whom media reports say is expected to represent the US‑backed Board of Peace in Gaza.

Aidaros Alzubidi was accused of high treason and removed from Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council on Wednesday, while the coalition bombed his home province after he refused to attend talks in Riyadh.

A Saudi-led coalition struck the home province of Yemen's UAE-backed separatist leader on Wednesday, after he failed to show up for talks in Riyadh and was kicked out of the country's presidential body.

After a US military operation that seized Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump said he wants to allow American oil companies to head back into Venezuela to tap its massive crude reserves.

Early signals hint that Web Summit Qatar 2026 will be its biggest edition yet, with participation expected to outpace the inaugural year and draw more global investors.

A Yemeni military official said around 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters were amassed near the Saudi border -- but were not given orders to advance on separatist-held territory.

The Kingdom said the military movements in the governorates of (Hadramawt and Al-Mahra), recently conducted by the Southern Transitional Council, were carried out unilaterally.

Workers have started laying tracks in the desert east of Cairo for Egypt's first high-speed train, which will link the Red Sea and the Mediterranean in the latest attempt to modernise transport in the vast country.

Macron is due to meet with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss "strengthening the strategic partnership" between the two countries, according to the French presidency, which stressed their cooperation on security and defense.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday urged the disarmament of Hamas but voiced hope for headway on reaching the next stage of a Gaza ceasefire as regional officials met.

A top Hamas official said Friday that talks in Miami to advance the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire must aim to end Israeli truce "violations" in the Palestinian territory.

Under the second stage, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas.

Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday rejected a hostile takeover bid by Paramount launched last week to trump plans by streaming giant Netflix to acquire the Hollywood giant and owner of CNN.

Netflix will continue to distribute Warner Bros. films in cinemas if its takeover bid for the storied studio is successful, the streaming service's chief executive Ted Sarandos said in an interview Tuesday in Paris.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is rapidly becoming one of the world’s most dynamic retail e-trading markets, according to a new white paper released by global trading platform Capital.com in partnership with advisory firm APCO.

The train would reach speeds exceeding 300 kilometers per hour and the trip would take roughly two hours between Riyadh and Doha.

Streaming giant Netflix said Friday it will buy film and television studio Warner Bros. Discovery for nearly $83 billion, the entertainment industry's biggest consolidation deal this decade.

Saudi Arabia greenlit its 2026 budget Tuesday, projecting a deficit of 165 billion riyals ($44 billion) as the kingdom presses on with an ambitious spending drive to diversify its oil-dependent economy.

Streaming giant Netflix has made a mostly cash offer to buy TV and film group Warner Bros Discovery as the storied yet debt-laden Hollywood studio presses on with a sale that could remake the US media landscape, a report said Monday.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday there was a "good chance" of a deal to end the war in Ukraine after the latest US negotiations with Kyiv, as his envoy prepares to travel to Russia for follow-up talks.

China's stranglehold on the rare earths industry -- from natural reserves and mining through processing and innovation -- is the result of a decades-long drive, now giving Beijing crucial leverage in its trade war with the United States.

Australians younger than 16 will be removed from Facebook and Instagram on December 4, tech giant Meta said Thursday, as Canberra prepares to enforce sweeping laws banning teens from social media.

Nvidia and Microsoft announced Tuesday investments totaling $15 billion in AI startup Anthropic, creator of the Claude chatbot, amid frenzied spending on the technology and growing fears of a bubble.

Turkey wants to host next year's UN climate change talks and is ready to organise the event alone if there is no agreement on sharing the event, a Turkish diplomatic source told AFP Sunday.

Google announced Friday a major $40 billion investment in Texas through 2027 to build new cloud computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure, marking the latest in a series of massive technology investments in the US state.

Global fossil fuel emissions are set to hit a new high in 2025, according to research published Thursday that also warns curbing warming under 1.5C would now be essentially "impossible".

Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, was the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the Middle Eastern country's independence in 1946.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist, has developed a plan aimed at luring working-class people and young adults, for whom famously expensive New York is becoming harder and harder to call home.

Global markets are watching closely to see if Thursday's planned meeting between the two presidents can halt a trade war sparked by the sweeping tariffs Trump announced after returning to office this year.

Signatories include the "Godfather of AI" and 2024 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics Geoffrey Hinton; Computer Sciences Professor at the University of California in Berkeley Stuart Russell; and the world's most-cited AI scientist Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montreal.

Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed preparations for an upcoming summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in a call on Monday, both sides said.

The World Economic Forum will convene more than 500 experts from government, business, academia, international organizations, civil society and media, alongside 150 of the world’s foremost cybersecurity leaders

China said on Tuesday it was ready to "fight to the end" in a trade war with the United States after President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 100 percent tariff on the world's second-largest economy.

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he may warn Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Ukraine could get Tomahawk cruise missiles if Moscow does not end its invasion

The announcement comes soon after President Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to defend the Gulf Arab state against attacks, following Israeli air strikes targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha.

The study, the most detailed look so far at child hunger in Gaza, analysed data on more than 200,000 children under five examined between January 2024 and August 2025 at UNRWA facilities.